HARRY POTTER AND THE SECRET ENEMY

Harry Potter and all associated characters and situations are the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no claim to ownership.

CHAPTER 30: The Dueling Club

17 December 1992
8:00 p.m.

The first meeting of the Dueling Association was open to all Hogwarts students, though if interest were high enough, future sessions would most likely be broken up by class year. Most of Slytherin House came in a show of mutual support for Harry and Draco after the prank played on the Quidditch team earlier that evening. Of course, "support" among Slytherins was conditional, and Harry felt strongly that he needed to make some sort of power play during the meeting to maintain any influence over the House's response to what had happened.

The Great Hall had been cleared of all furniture except one long table in the center of the room which would serve as the dueling platform and a few smaller tables set up in the corners for refreshments. As the Slytherins entered, a group of Gryffindors centered around Jim laughed openly and pointed at the Quidditch Team members. Harry's own Gryffindor friends were not among them. Neville was in the Library trying to catch up on a Transfiguration essay, while Hermione and Luna were off doing something or other for Team Mysterioso. Harry paused and then walked over to the Gryffindors.

"Jim, a word please?" he said firmly before walking away from the group towards an empty area. With some reluctance, Jim followed him.

"Yes, Harry?" Jim asked guardedly.

"I've been thinking about what I said after our last detention with Lockhart. I was wrong. I see that now."

Jim blinked in surprise at the unexpected comment. "So you do think it's possible for us to be more like brothers?"

Harry laughed bitterly. "Of course not! No, I mean I no longer think it's possible for us to avoid being enemies."

"What?! Harry, is this because of what happened earlier in the foyer...?"

"In part. I don't think you were personally responsible for the prank played on us – you certainly don't have the skill for it, though you might have been involved. No, mainly, I've just been thinking about you and me for some time now – ever since the day after our Quidditch match, in fact – and I've honestly just come to the conclusion that I will never have any lasting happiness of any kind so long as you're on hand to ruin it for me!"

Jim was silent for several seconds as he absorbed his brother's declaration of war. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because our last conversation probably left you with a live-and-let-live impression from me. Whatever happens now, I don't want you running around claiming that I tricked you into dropping your guard. I don't want you to pretend that you didn't know I was coming for you. Not very Slytherin of me, I know, but my Gryffindor side insists that I beat you fairly as well as decisively."

Jim's face darkened. "Fair enough. Game on." Both brothers scowled at each other before returning to their respective groups.

At about that time, several faculty members entered the room. Lily Potter and Pomona Sprout entered first. Lily noticed her two sons as they separated with each bearing angry expressions. Jim acknowledged his mother with a nod, while Harry ignored her completely. Before she could speak to either boy, Gilderoy Lockhart strode into the room with a flourish wearing a stylish dueling outfight with a half-cape flung over his shoulder. On his left arm was a white satin gauntlet that doubled as a wand holster. Profs. Snape and Flitwick entered behind him.

"Good evening, students and faculty! And welcome to the first of what I hope will be many meetings for the Hogwarts Dueling Association!" Behind him, Snape's lip curled slightly. The DADA instructor continued his opening remarks for another five minutes, including a brief history of professional dueling, an introduction of the members of Team Counterstrike (all of whom he asked to come forward and stand next to the dueling platform as they were introduced), and an explanation of the rules of ping-pong punctuated by five bad jokes and three "ha-Has," each of which made Harry visibly wince.

"But, I'm sure that it's been the talk of the school that I've spent months teaching these fine young students to play a Muggle leisure activity. Tonight, you will all find out why. Raise your hands, students, if you have ever heard of ... the Averto Shield." Not a single student raised a hand. "Unsurprising, for it is a very rare Charm, and only the most dexterous of wizards and witches can use it with any effectiveness."

With that, Lockhart waved his wand, and the word "Averto" appeared in the air in flaming letters. Then, he whirled around to face Team Counterstrike. "Cedric Diggory. Kindly step forward and demonstrate the Protego Shield for everyone." Cedric did as instructed, and there was a flash of gold around him which quickly faded into the soft, barely visible heat-haze that astute observers recognized as the Protego.

"Well done as always, Mr. Diggory. Now, using the exact same wand movements, cast the spell again only saying Averto instead of Protego. The accent is on the second syllable which is pronounced to rhyme with 'air' with a slight trill on the 'r.'"

Cedric studied the word for a few seconds, muttering it under his breath to make sure his pronunciation was correct. Then, he cast the spell as instructed. However, there was no apparent effect. Confused, Cedric started to try again when Lockhart interrupted him.

"Please examine the tip of your wand, Mr. Diggory. The results might surprise you."

Cedric pulled his wand up even with his eyes, and he was indeed surprised. There was a tiny, barely visible bubble, no more than three or so inches across, centered on the tip of his wand. Confused, Cedric felt out for his magic and was further surprised to realize that it was fueling this tiny shield, but at a level so small that he barely felt a drain at all. Then, he touched it lightly with his fingertip before jerking it back with a soft "Ouch!"

"What you see there, Mr. Diggory, is the Averto Shield, a shield spell that is every bit as strong as a Protego but which has only a tiny fraction of Protego's size and power demand. With practice, you can maintain that shield for hours without draining yourself. Now, you may ask 'But Professor Lockhart, what good is a shield that's only three inches across?' Allow me to demonstrate. Mr. Harry Potter. Would you be so kind as to target me with a Stinging Hex?"

Harry crooked an eyebrow. Then, as fast as he could, Harry flicked out his wand and cast. "ACULEUS!" The Stinging Hex flew towards Lockhart, who casually batted it away to impact harmlessly into a wall. Harry and the rest of the students were suitably impressed.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. But while the defensive benefits of Averto are obvious, there is more. If you are quick enough, dexterous enough, and knowledgeable enough about offensive and defensive magic, you can combine the stroke that parries an incoming attack with one of the wand strokes of an attack spell, hence my naming this group Team Counterstrike. Mr. Potter, target me again with a Stinging Hex, please."

Harry nodded and fired off another hex even faster than before. This time, Lockhart lunged slightly and cried out "EXPELLIARMUS," timing his wand movements so that the second slash of the spell also deflected Harry's hex. Lockhart's spell then hit Harry before he could react, and Harry's wand flew across the room where the DADA professor caught it easily. The whole thing happened with astonishing speed.

"The defense is not perfect," said Lockhart to the group as he walked over to return Harry's wand. "Far from it, in fact, if you lack the skill to use it flawlessly. Fail to parry the incoming spell, and you will bear the full brunt of it. Also, it cannot block spells which target an entire area, such as Bombarda, nor spells which cannot normally be blocked by a Protego. And it goes without saying that it cannot block any of the Unforgivables. Still, within the structured environment of a duel, it is a formidable defense, but only if you're clever enough to combine it with appropriate attack spells."

With that, he nodded to Professor Flitwick who used the Pyrologos Charm to cover one of the side walls in flaming words, about thirty or so in all. Harry realized that they were all offensive Charms, Third Year and below, most of which he already knew. Notably, all of the cutting spells, explosive spells, and burning spells that he'd studied were conspicuously absent. However, one spell on the list made Harry smile.

"These spells," said Flitwick in his squeaky voice, "are the only offensive spells permitted for competitive dueling at the Beginner Level under the rules set forth by the Western European Dueling Association. Members of Team Counterstrike, take a few moments to review the list with an eye towards how to incorporate the wand patterns into an Averto parry. Everyone else – Refreshment Time!" The students not on Team Counterstrike swarmed the refreshments tables while the team members, all of whom had developed strong competitive streaks over the last several weeks, pored over the list of allowed spells.

Fifteen minutes later, Lockhart summoned everyone back to the dueling platform. "Now then, as you've no doubt realized, the purpose of nearly four months of ping-pong practice is to see whether the game serves as a viable practice tool for developing skill at parrying incoming spells. So let's start off with Mr. Diggory and Mr. Finch-Fletchley. Diggory is a Fourth Year and has been first in his class in DADA for the last two years running, but his duties as prefect and Quidditch captain have cut into his ping-pong practice time. Finch-Fletchley is a Second Year with respectable but not dominating DADA scores, but he is an accomplished ping-pong player who has taught most of Team Counterstrike literally everything they know about the game, ha-Ha! So let us see who has the advantage."

Somewhat nervously, Justin headed to one end of the platform while Cedric went to the other. Flitwick explained the dueling protocol, and then the two boys met in the middle of the platform, raised their wands in salute, and then bowed before heading back to the opposite ends where each of them activated their Averto parrying shields. The diminutive professor said that the two would be playing a "best of five" match, which meant that a duelist would receive a point for each time he successful disarmed the other, and the first duelist to get three points would win. Then, Flitwick tapped the platform three times with his own wand and cried out "CERTAMEN!" and a glimmering shield wrapped itself around the perimeter of the platform before fading into transparency. Designed specifically for competition dueling, the Certamen shield would prevent any missed or deflected spells from hitting anyone in the audience. Flitwick raised his wand high and then slashed down quickly to signify that the duel had begun.

Immediately, Diggory fired off a volley of charms and hexes towards the younger Hufflepuff. Justin was able to parry them fairly easily, but troubles came when he tried to return fire, as he simply wasn't fast enough to get a spell off before Cedric sent one his way. Despite his superior skill at ping-pong, Justin was soon down 2-0, one point away from losing the duel. Then, he heard a voice behind him say "Call for a time out." It was Draco. Somewhat surprised, Justin gave the signal for a sixty-second time out to Flitwick before turning towards Draco who was at the end of the platform.

"You can parry Diggory all day if you need to," he said sagely. "Your problem is that you abandon your defense in favor of an attack before you have a good opening. Be patient and play to your strengths." Justin's forehead creased as he considered Draco's words. Meanwhile, Malfoy's two bodyguards stood behind him looking at each other nervously, completely baffled by the sight of their "boss" helping out a Mudblood. Then, Flitwick called time-in, and the duel resumed.

Justin took his sort-of-friend's advice to heart and focused solely on parrying everything Cedric threw at him. By the tenth parried spell, Cedric was becoming annoyed. By the twentieth, he was visibly frustrated and a little bit tired. It was on the twenty-third spell that Cedric got a little sloppy and finally gave Justin an opening. He parried Cedric's spell and led that directly into a Tarantallegra. Caught off guard, Cedric tried to parry but missed. Then, he spent several precious seconds trying to cast the counter-curse while dancing furiously and was completely unprepared when Justin's Expelliarmus slammed into him. The score was 2-1. The next round went just as badly for Diggory, and Justin took him down the same way. Tied at 2-2.

Then, it was Cedric's turn to call for a time-out, which he spent calming himself down and trying to think critically about how to get around Justin's seemingly impenetrable defense. Just as Flitwick called time-in, an idea came to the older boy, and he smiled to himself. The final round began with Cedric firing off several rapid fire spells aimed first at Justin's stomach, then his chest, and finally his head. Justin parried each progressively higher spell in turn, but as he reached up to deflect the last spell, Cedric suddenly dropped to one knee and fired off a Leg-Locker Curse towards Justin's shins, no more than a foot above the floor. For one critical second, Justin was paralyzed trying to decide between parrying or simply trying to dodge the spell. That was one second too long, as the curse hit him before he could move, and he fell over on his side. Cedric quickly disarmed him and claimed victory to the general applause of the student body. He came over to return Justin's wand and help him up, and he congratulated Justin on a hard-fought match.

"Well done to both of you!" exclaimed Lockhart. "In this instance, it's safe to say that greater experience narrowly trumped the use of that particular defense. While Mr. Finch-Fletchley's skill with Averto is most impressive, you don't have to parry every attack. Mr. Diggory's Leg-Locker Curse was low enough to the ground that Mr. Finch-Fletchley could have simply hopped over it, in which case, he might have gained a tactical advantage over Mr. Diggory who was down on one knee limiting his mobility. Still, definitely well done to you both. Now, let's see what happens with two students who are very comparable in skill, both in ping-pong and in spellwork. Mr. Harry Potter and Mr. Jim Potter, please take to the dueling platform!"

Harry strode confidently to the end of the platform where the two Hufflepuffs were exiting, stopping to congratulate Diggory for his win and Justin for his strong effort. Then, he walked up the steps and down the platform to meet Jim in the center. In the back of the room, Lily Potter tensed, visibly unhappy that Lockhart had set her two sons against one another.

"You sure you want this, Harry? Total war?" asked Jim in a calm voice.

"I don't think either of us ever had much choice, Jim," Harry replied.

"Alright then. Prepare to have your happiness ruined again."

Harry snorted at that, and the two boys raised their wands to salute one another before returning to their respective ends to activate their shields. Then, Flitwick raised his wand and slashed down, and the duel began. As Lockhart had suggested, Harry and Jim were very close in both physical and magical skill. For two solid minutes, spells flew back and forth, as the Potter Twins attacked and parried and attacked again, apparently too evenly matched for either to disarm the other. Unfortunately, Harry gradually came to realize that very close in skill did not mean equal. To his unexpected surprise, Harry was forced to acknowledge that for all his effort and study, Jim really was just a tiny bit faster and more experienced than him. Just past the two minute mark, Jim finally disarmed his older brother.

"One point to Jim Potter!" exclaimed Flitwick. "Score: one to zero." The Gryffindors cheered loudly, led by Ron who stood nearest to Jim at the end of the platform, ever ready to give encouragement. The Slytherins booed, though some of them cast disparaging looks at Harry for his failure, and Harry suddenly realized that he might have miscalculated. He'd hoped to get inside Jim's head and make him arrogant and overconfident. It had not occurred to Harry that Jim's arrogance and confidence at dueling would be justified by his actual skill. To his embarrassment, Harry realized that for the very first time since he came to Hogwarts, one of his power plays was in danger of blowing up in his face.

The second round preceded much like the first except that both boys were even more intense. The two were evenly matched for almost three minutes this time, a remarkable duration for first time duelists – typical Beginner competition rounds rarely lasted for more than five minutes, and a couple of novices normally wouldn't last more than one. Unable to get any spells past Jim, Harry finally stole a play from Cedric Diggory, ducking under an attack and aiming a Stunner at Jim's lower legs. But the Gryffindor was ready even for that. He leaped over the incoming spell, and as he fell towards the floor, he let loose with another Disarming Jinx, also aimed at his opponent's legs. Harry tried to dodge, but he mistimed it slightly, and the Expelliarmus barely grazed his leg. That, unfortunately, was enough to disarm Harry a second time.

"One point to Jim Potter!" exclaimed Flitwick again. "Score: two to zero."

"Time out!" Harry whirled around in surprise. It was Professor Snape who called for a time-out, and Harry's Head of House was now giving him a stern look. Meanwhile, Jim got up and returned to his end of the platform to the cheers of his Housemates. By now, the Slytherins in attendance were noticeably subdued.

"As impressive as your skills are, Mr. Potter, they seem ... inadequate to overcome those of the Other Potter. Explain yourself."

"Jim's been getting lessons over the Summer, apparently with a heavy emphasis on combat training," Harry said in a tight voice. He had not yet suppressed his emotions with Occlumency as doing so would also deprive him of the benefits of any adrenaline rush. It was a balancing act to know when to suppress emotions and when to rely upon them, one with which he was still grappling.

"It was my understanding that you were also taking lessons in defensive magic over the summer, Potter."

Harry's eyes flashed. "I took lessons so that I could take my OWLs early, sir," he said. "Jim took lessons so he could learn to fight Death Eaters."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Be that as it may, while your brother may be your superior, if only in this narrow area, he is still a Gryffindor and is thus congenitally incapable of lateral thinking. This far, while he has shown multiple defensive approaches, all of his attacks are simple and direct. He seems either incapable of or uninterested in any form of indirect or obfuscatory tactics. You are a Slytherin. Use spells which can harry or divert him but which don't actually require you to overcome his admittedly strong defense." Snape glanced up at the flaming spell list still floating next to the far wall. "Something from the Opuggno series, perhaps?"

With that bit of advice, Snape stepped back into the crowd while Harry turned to study the spell list once again. Then, as the time-out ended, he resumed his dueling pose. Flitwick gave the signal again, and Harry and Jim both opened fire on each other. The spells flew even faster than the first two rounds, but around the one minute mark, Harry thought he saw his opening.

"SERPENTSORTIA OPUGGNO!" he yelled. Only Serpensortia was needed to summon a snake of Harry's choice – a boa constrictor, in this case – but using it as part of the Opuggno Jinx ensured that the snake would aggressively attack Jim without any further instructions from Harry, and certainly without the need for any Parseltongue instructions that Harry had no intention of giving in front of half the school. Unfortunately, "Serpensortia Opuggno" is a mouthful and requires a fairly complicated wand pattern, both of which gave Jim what he thought might be the opening for a finishing move.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Jim's Disarming Jinx flew towards Harry only to impact with the conjured boa constrictor just as it was coming into solidity.

And then came the deafening BOOM.

The two spells crossed, and where they impacted with one another there was suddenly a seething ball of blinding white light. The ball expanded quickly, first rubbing up against the Certaman shield at the edges of the dueling platform and then shattering it with great force, knocking down most of the people around the platform in the process. Those further away and nearest the door rather sensibly made a break for it. Lily Potter did not, and instead, she tried to push her way through the crowd towards her sons.

Simultaneously, the glowing sphere shot out two tendrils of energy, one towards each of the Potter Twins. Harry couldn't see what was happening with Jim, but when the tendril nearest him touched the tip of his wand, his hand snapped tight into a death grip, and he felt as though he were being electrocuted. Instinctively, he fought back, pushing his magic though the connection between his wand and the sphere. For just a second, the sphere moved away from Harry and towards Jim. Then, it stopped suddenly before jerking back a few feet towards Harry, who could somehow feel his brother pushing the ball towards him.

"Oh no you don't," Harry thought angrily before he pushed more of himself into the sphere, which wavered between the two boys before remaining in place. Then, it started to slowly expand and grow brighter as both twins pushed against it. And from inside the glowing sphere came the sound of angry hissing that grew louder and deeper as the sphere expanded.

"What the Hell is THAT?!" exclaimed Lockhart in a mixture of anger and fear. Then, Professor Flitwick, who was nearby, answered his question with an exclamation of his own.

"Bless my soul!" he yelled in wonder. "It's ... of course! I should have anticipated this what with two identical twins! It's the Brother Wand Effect!"

"The what?!" asked Lockhart who was slowly backing away from the expanding sphere with his wand pointed at it. Inside, he could just barely make out some writhing shape thrashing about, apparently in pain from the sounds it was making.

"Never mind for now, Gilderoy! Severus! We must disarm the Potter Twins but we must do so simultaneously, else the one who is disarmed first might be injured or killed!" On the other side of the table, Snape nodded and then pointed his wand at Harry Potter. Flitwick did the same towards Jim, and on the count of three, they each fired off Disarming Charms at the two boys. Jim's wand went flying off behind him, while Harry's flew off towards the panicking crowd. Theo Nott actually pushed two people aside before jumping up to catch it.

Instantly, the white sphere exploded with enough force to knock most of the observers flat on their backs, including both Harry and Jim, as well as most of the faculty present. And in the center of the platform where the glowing sphere had been was ... not a snake so much as an abomination. Over thirty feet long and three-feet in diameter at the widest point, the snake was covered with shiny emerald green scales which appeared to be made of metal. But the most striking feature of the snake was its eyes – they burned, literally burned with an unholy green fire. Twisting around, the snake focused its attention on the largest mass of students, opened its wide maw, and breathed a gout of green flame directly towards them. Snape was faster, and he successfully cast a Mass Protego to protect the students, but then he screamed in pain, as he was somehow able to feel the heat of the flames though his shield. The magical feedback caused the Potions Master to swoon, and Marcus and some of the other Slytherins caught him and dragged him away from the snake. The other professors on hand tried their best to usher students out of the Great Hall, but too many were on the far side of the platform. Flitwick, Lockhart, and several older students cast what spells they could, but the snake seemed to have magic resistant scales. Suddenly, the creature let out a roar, and Harry was surprised to realize he could understand it despite the snake's strange nature.

"PAIN! WHY DOESSSS IT HURT SSSSO MUCH!"

Then, one of the older Gryffindors standing near fired off a Cutting Hex at the creature which had no effect except to draw its attention and make it angrier. Amid cries of terror, the Gryffindors tried to get around the platform to flee, while Jim Potter finally pulled himself up off the floor into a kneeling position. The snake hissed in anger and then unleashed a gout of flame that struck the floor near the fleeing students, generating a small explosion and knocking most of the Gryffindors to the ground. A second later, another gout of flame targeted the helpless students, but at the last second, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Draco Malfoy (of all people!) interposed themselves and cast overlapping Protego spells. Both boys screamed in pain as the unearthly green flames struck, but the shields held and none of the students were burned. Even angrier now, the serpent cast about for some other target and saw one: Jim Potter.

From the opposite side of the platform, Harry marveled at the absurdity of the choice he faced. If he did nothing, the snake would likely kill his brother, ending their rivalry and clearing Harry's way to the Potter Seat no matter what James Potter and Peter Pettigrew had to say about it. Or he could save his brother but at the cost of revealing himself as a Parselmouth in front of most of the school and confirming in the minds of most of Wizarding Britain that he was a future dark wizard. Harry muttered an expletive that would scandalize Hermione if she'd been on hand to hear it. Then, he drew a deep breath.

"SSSSSTOP!"

The snake froze and focused its attention on the source of the command. "YOU ARE A SSSSPEAKER OF THE SSSACRED TONGUE?"

"YESSSS. I AM A SSSPEAKER OF THE FOUNDER'S SSSSACRED TONGUE. AND I COMMAND YOU IN THE NAME OF SSSALAZAR SSSLYTHERIN TO HARM NO ONE. DO YOU UNDERSSSSTAND?"

"YESSS, MASSSTER. BUT THE PAIN. IT HURTSSSS."

"I KNOW. I'M SSSSORRY. I WILL END YOUR PAIN AS SSSSOON AS POSSSSIBLE."

At that, the serpent calmed itself and awaited further instructions. With the immediate danger past, everyone in the room focused their attention on the one who had charmed the monstrous creature. The Muggleborns were confused by what had happened but knew enough to realize they should be frightened. Everyone else in the room, however, knew exactly what a Parselmouth was and what it might mean to exhibit that gift. Whether in horror or wonder, everyone in the room was fixated on Potter and his giant, fire-breathing pet snake.

Everyone including his older brother Harry, for whom Christmas had just come early.

Quickly surveying the room, Harry called out to Theo Nott, and the other boy tossed Harry his wand. Then, summoning all his will and magic, Harry stepped forward and cast a spell at the giant snake with as much energy as he could. "VIPERA EVANESCA!" he cried, and with a hiss of pain and a final harmless gout of green flame, the giant snake disintegrated. Then, without even looking towards Jim, who seemed paralyzed by the crowd's reaction to him, Harry jumped off the platform and raced over to help Justin and Draco to their feet.

"Justin! Draco! Are you two okay?!" he exclaimed breathlessly. "I swear I have no idea what happened! It was supposed to just be a boa constrictor! I have no idea how it got turned into that ... thing!"

"I think we're both fine, Harry," said Draco.

"Yes," said Justin. "It hurt like the dickens when the fire touched our shields, but once the fire stopped so did the pain."

Quickly, Harry turned to the others students who had been knocked down – mostly younger Gryffindors. "Is everyone else okay?" he asked with as much genuine concern and compassion for the Gryffs as he could fake on short notice. By that time, Lockhart and the other professors were gathered around to confirm that everyone was alright. With as much discretion as possible, Harry studied the professors around him. Most of them were studiously avoiding looking towards Jim who was now making his own way off the platform nervously. Lilly Potter was looking towards Jim with a concerned expression, but she made no move to approach him.

"Right," said Lockhart. "Now that we know we're all okay, Professor Flitwick, I believe you can shed some light on what just happened?"

"I believe so," said the Charms professor, "but first – Mr. Potter, what is your wand made of?"

Harry blinked at the odd segue. "Um, holly and phoenix feather."

"I thought as much. And Jim's wand, I happen to know, is ash and phoenix feather. And since there has only been one phoenix that has been sighted in Britain in the last century, I've no doubt it was the same phoenix." Flitwick said triumphantly as if that answered everyone's question.

Lockhart coughed. "I ... see. And that has something to do with the ... Brother Thingy?"

"The Brother Wand Effect. An incredibly rare phenomenon. If you have two wands that have a strong sympathetic connection, each wielded by duelists who also have strong sympathetic connections, and the two wands cross against one another just right, it can create a sort of magical embolism that allows raw Wild Magic to manifest, warping the spells used in unpredictable ways."

At the mention of Wild Magic, Snape coughed very loudly. "As interesting as that is, Professor Flitwick, the students have just endured a terrifying experience. Perhaps it would be best if we end tonight's session early and put off the Dueling Club's organizational meeting to another date."

"I agree, Professor Snape," said Lockhart. Flitwick started to say something but then thought better of it in light of the oddly stern looks that both Snape and Lockhart were giving him. "Everyone, thank you all for coming," Lockhart continued. "I'll be posting a notice sometime soon about when the Dueling Club will meet again. For now, please clear the hall."

With that, the students, most of whom had been standing around muttering in confusion, turned towards the exit, when Ron Weasley suddenly spoke up loudly enough for the whole room to hear.

"Harry, are you a Parselmouth too?" he said in a shaken yet oddly outraged voice.

At that, everyone in the room stopped and looked towards Harry. Jim by this point was about ten feet away when he froze, the blood draining from his face.

Harry looked around mildly at the sudden attention before turning back to Ron with a puzzled expression. "Parsa-what?" he asked in obvious confusion. Behind Ron, Draco's eyes bulged slightly before he caught himself and put on an emotionless mask.

"Parselmouth. It means you can talk to snakes," Ron said. Except that he wasn't looking at Harry, but at Jim. "You-Know-Who was a Parselmouth,"

"Oh, you mean that ... hissy thing Jim was doing," said Harry evenly. "Now that you mention it, I think my father said something to me about it at one point. But no, I've never had chance to actually learn the spell."

"It's not a spell," Ron spat. "Usually, it's inherited. But if Jim's twin doesn't have it..."

"YES, YES!" said Lockhart very loudly. "That's all quite interesting, but it's late, late, late! Why it'll be past curfew in just..." He checked his pocket watch. "An hour and a half," he finished lamely.

"Ron?" said Jim. His voice cracked just a little bit.

"You got it from him, didn't you?!" Ron practically snarled. "You've got a part of him inside you!"

With that, there was now a noticeable muttering from the surrounding students, all of whom were now blatantly ignoring the professors' directions to leave.

"Ron, don't ... please don't do this." Jim took a step towards his best friend, who quickly took two steps back with an expression of disgust and anger on his face.

"Honestly, Ron," said Harry in a reassuring voice. "You're being ridiculous. I'm sure there's a perfectly rational explanation for why my brother has this ... evil snake-talking power. I mean, you make it sound like You-Know-Who marked Jim in ... some ... way." Harry's voice trailed off as he suddenly began to stare intently at the V-shaped scare on Jim's right temple. Soon, he wasn't the only one.

Jim grew even paler as he looked around the room and took in all the faces that now stared back at him with fear and loathing. He took another step towards Ron.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH ME!" yelled the upset boy.

"Ron, just let me explain!"

"Boys, that is enough!" said Lockhart, who was trying unsuccessfully to assert some control over the situation.

"No, I understand now!" Ron yelled while ignoring the professors completely. "I get it! Why you'd spend all your time with a nobody like me! All this time, I thought you wanted a friend to help you fight Voldemort!" There was a visible gasp as Ron said the taboo name. "But you never wanted a friend, did you?! You wanted a MINION! How long would it have been before you made me get A SNAKE TATTOO!"

At that, Jim's fear over his exposure gave way to anger, and he took a step towards his erstwhile friend as if to strike Ron. "You bastard!" At that, the Weasley Twins and their brother Percy all stepped in front Ron protectively.

"And there it is," said Ron to the rest of the room. "You see? He hears something he doesn't like and gets violent. Good thing he doesn't know the Cruciatus yet, isn't it!"

At that, Jim looked like he'd been gut-punched. Then, everyone jumped when Snape fired off loud fireworks from his wand. "EVERYONE! DORMITORIES! NOW!" Immediately, everyone moved quickly towards the exit, with the older Weasleys huddled around Ron protectively. Lily Potter intercepted Jim and began talking with him. Harry and Theo were among the last to reach the doors to the Great Hall, and both of them spared a quick glance back. By now, Jim had actually begun to cry, and his (their) mother pulled him into an embrace, even as her own expression became fearful. Theo saw it too.

"So," he said quietly. "How long until you let Jim off the hook?"

Harry didn't answer. Instead, he put his arm around Theo's shoulders with a firm grip. "Walk with me, Theo," he said in an eerily calm voice. Harry led Theo out of the Great Hall, across the corridor, and into the foyer until they were standing with their backs to the closed portcullis. Then, he gestured around the area.

"Where are we, Theo?" Harry asked with an amiable smile.

"Um, the main foyer?" replied Theo who suddenly felt oddly nervous.

"Yeaaaah, the main foyer. Now, Theo, picture it if you will. Me, Draco, Marcus, and the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team. All standing in this foyer, right where we are now. Half-frozen, soaking wet, muddy ... and practically bollocks-naked. With Jim Potter and his lapdogs laughing at us, and the head photographer for his fan club taking pictures."

Harry turned back to Theo and grinned in a way that made the other boy shudder. "No, Theo. I'm not letting Jim Potter off the hook. Jim Potter, Hogwarts' most famous Parselmouth, is going to dangle on the hook for my amusement. I'm going to leave Jim Potter, future dark wizard, on the hook and let him twist slowly in the wind."

With that, Harry patted his friend on the back and then headed towards the dungeons with a spring in his step. Behind him, Theo exhaled and reminded himself why it was good to be Harry's friend ... and very, very bad to be his enemy.

People were talking ...

"James, something ... something's happened," said Lily Potter through the fireplace's flames. "With Jim."

"Headmaster," said Severus Snape impassively. "There has been an important development that you should be aware of."

"No, Mr. Weasley, we will not reassign Jim Potter to a private room no matter how frightened your brother is of him!" said Minerva McGonagall in a brittle voice that made her anxious Sixth Year prefect wince.

"Well now, that was unexpected," said Peter Pettigrew almost gleefully to himself just seconds after James broke the Floo connection.

"Mamma, I have some concerns about our long-term goals," wrote Blaise Zabini in a letter to the Countess Zabini, except that his words were both in Italian and coded.

"I know he's a Gryffindor," said Cassius Warrington to a small group of like-minded Slytherins. "Maybe the Hat made a mistake. But none of that matters now. All that matters is ... getting Jim Potter to realize who his friends are."

"I was going to start off by telling you about Draco Malfoy's odd and sudden affection for a filthy Mudblood, but something else happened that was even more unexpected and important than that," wrote Drusilla Crabbe in a letter to her father.

"No, we're staying down here. I'd rather sleep on the Common Room floor than in a room with ... him," said Ron Weasley to the Head Girl, as Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas nodded their heads in frightened agreement.

"How the HELL does he expect me to spin THIS?!" shouted Rita Skeeter angrily in response to a late night owl post.

"I picked the wrong son," muttered James Potter to himself in amazement and horror as he stared out his study window with a half-empty whiskey bottle in his hand.

"Are you going to be okay, Jim?" said Neville Longbottom, the only other boy still sleeping in the same room with the Boy-Who-Talked-To-Snakes.

Jim said nothing. He just rolled over and stared at the empty bed belonging to the best friend he'd ever had. Sleep was a long time coming.

There will be a brief delay due to unexpected work commitments. The next chapter will most likely be posted on February 5, 2016 unless I miraculously get done ahead of schedule in time to post it next Friday, January 2. If so, consider it a late Christmas present. "Home For The Holidays," in which Harry socializes, James plots, Neville investigates, and Jim broods. All this, plus the Secret Enemy strikes again.

AN 1: "Curious," said Ollivander about Harry's wand back in Chapter 3. A pity that Harry was so angry with James that he didn't let the man finish. If he had, he might have learned about the two other wands that Ollivander had sold containing feathers from the same phoenix. But then, Harry has already acknowledged that an impatience with followup questions is a big failing of his.

AN 2: After I'm done with The Secret Enemy (and during the break between that and Year 3, "Harry Potter and the Death Eater Menace"), I would like to take a stab at revising the first few chapters. It troubles me that more than 113,000 people have read Chapter 1, but less than 25,000 felt moved to continue on to Chapter 2. Any thoughts on how the Prologue might be modified on how to make it more attractive to new readers? Or is it just that most people recoil from the idea of yet another WBWL story and don't even try reading past that point (a sentiment that has shown up in some reviews)?